


Lords of the Steppe

by dualmode



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Hybrids, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26196721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dualmode/pseuds/dualmode
Summary: Sometime in Tibet and the Himalayas, raven played with snow leopard's tail because its similarities with a snake. Take that information and put Jack and Gabe as the snow leopard and raven.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Lords of the Steppe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [momopichu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/momopichu/gifts).



> i know jack shit about snow leopard. the plains is imaginary. edited from a twitter thread. i gifted this to momo because i feel they are my first and fluffiest r76 friend <3

It was long known that the golden capped snow leopard called Jak had been the prince of the plains just off the bounds of Orkhon Valley. He was called the prince for the way Jak hunted and napped and played there. Any Orkhon habitants knew, for a fact, that Jak would chase them away if they were a rival, and eat them if they were weakling.

Gabr-el had heard of some stories of course; where his corvid brethren were a plaything when they accidentally landed in Jak’s plains or worse, being eaten for lunch. But there was a deeply seated curiosity inside Gabr-el that pushed him to soar into the easternmost part of Orkhon and check how dangerous Jak really was.

The first time Gabr-el flew over to Jak’s plains, the snow leopard was eating a brown hare ravenously. Behind him there was a dead black-and-white snake jerking about, waiting to be eaten. Gabr-el also saw the truth behind the nickname Jak got, for Jak’s top of head is covered in golden threads. He was gone before Jak realized him floating round and round, before the jerking black-and-white snake was being eaten.

The second time Gabr-el circled Jak’s plains, the snow leopard was napping with a bloody muzzle and paws, a marmot carcass behind him. Just beside it, another snake laid limply. Gabr-el glided closer. Afterall it was weird that two twin snakes are being eaten on two different days. That’s when Gabr-el realized two thing: 

  1. The snake was actually Jak’s tail, and
  2. Jak was _not_ napping.



Gabr-el took wings immediately, nearly caught by fluffy bloody paws. He cawed before he left the growling snow leopard.

The third time Gabr-el came to the plains, he couldn’t find where Jak was. He circled and circled the sky, searching for his object of curiosity and found no head full of golden strands. Unknown to him, right in the middle of the plains and Orkhon Valley, a man with a head full of golden strands trim his sharp nails and fluffy tail. 

On the way to his nest, Gabr-el suddenly had a brilliant idea to play with Jak. Simply a fun way to poke the big cat and keep himself safe.

Seeing that Jak was already eaten half of his bharal when Gabr-el next came to the plains, the raven put his idea into motion promptly. 

Gabr-el circled the plains from far away, waiting for Jak to be more relaxed—almost sleeping on his patch of sunshine. Jak, the prince of the plains he was, took his time enjoying his full belly and warm spot. Circling and circling, Gabr-el did; rubbing and rolling, Jak languished.

The time came when Jak stopped moving. Gabr-el swooped down faster and faster and faster—and clap!

Gabr-el  _ tugged _ Jak’s tail with his beak.

The response is immediate: with a swish of his fluffy paw, Jak tried to knock Gabr-el off of him. But Gabr-el was faster: with a smug caw he flitted away. Jak tried to follow him with jumping, but seeing that he was full of bharal, he couldn’t do much.

Gabr-el boasted loudly and with it, he left the disgruntled snow leopard. Jak himself branded the raven with white mask around his head in his mind.

Much to Jak’s annoyance, Gabr-el did this again and again and  _ again _ every time Jak was full of bharal or ibex and enjoying the fullness of a good meal.

But in one instance, Gabr-el could do nothing to Jak’s tail when he was biting and fluffing his tail. Gabr-el tried to swoop in and take it over repeatedly but he just  _ couldn’t _ before he realized what an  _ adorable  _ sight Jak biting his own tail was and ended up not making himself an annoyance for Jak.

From that point Jak decided to play with the masked raven. When he felt the corvid neared him, he swished his tail violently, losing the masked raven with quick movement. 

Of course when the masked raven eventually was able to catch his tail again, it was Jak’s own choice, not that the masked raven could predict when Jak was going to stop swishing his tail, no, no, no.

Days and weeks passed with them playing with Jak’s tail, until the wind blew with words of a man that was searching for a golden stranded snow leopard. Gabr-el knew exactly the man was pink faced and brought a long iron made to catch Jak, and he was getting nearer and nearer to Jak’s plains. He tried so hard to explain to Jak but his answers were cold shoulders and angry growls.

And it wasn’t playful angry growls, it was an actual, loud, willing to hurt growls.

Gabr-el decided to leave Jak. He was thankful. Jak knew, poacher would kill anything against them, and a friend like Gabr-el was too important for him to be dead.

So when Jak saw a man with a pink face and a long iron, he knew his time was numbered. He tried to run, tried to hide, tried to scare the man away, but greed had blinded the man and he was fearless in his endeavor to catch the golden stranded snow leopard.

With heavy heart Jak realized: his time as prince of the plains was no more. 

In a last attempt to save himself, Jak tried to hunt the pink faced man. He used his whole knowledge to be silent and deadly, creeping nearer and nearer to the poacher. 

Right when he believed he could catch the pink faced man unaware, the poacher turned to look at him and lift his iron. For a moment their gazes met.

Then swooping out of nowhere, the masked raven pecked and clawed and assailed the pink faced man with his trademark smug cawing. Jak was left dumbstruck.

Jak only became hyper aware when the pink faced man raised his iron and bashed it to the masked raven.

In no time, Jak leaped from his place and attacked the pink faced man: biting angrily and jamming his sharpened claw into everywhere he could reach. He could feel the pink faced man tried to use his iron but it was no use when Jak decided his hands should be useless.

Jak raged on the pink faced man until he stopped struggling and ran to where the masked raven laid unconscious. 

But in the masked raven’s place there laid a handsome man with black shining wings breathing shallowly and cradling his bruised ribs.

Jak was astonished. He wasn’t the only hybrid in this plains, it seemed.

He turned into his human form and slowly carried the masked raven’s human body with both hands. Knowing the pink faced man would be eaten by scavengers, Jak walked fast enough so the masked raven could get medical attention quickly and soft enough so he wouldn’t jar the bruised ribs.

In Jak’s cabin between the plains and Orkhon Valley, the masked raven got healed. By nightfall, Jak watched the masked raven finally wake up.

“Ugh, where—” A blink, two blinks. Body faced to the room at large, the masked raven seemed to be taking in Jak’s tail and ears. “I— are you Jak?”

Now it was time for Jak to blink dumbly. “How do you know?”

A little smirk spread on the handsome face. “You are quite famous around my brethren.” Jak blushed.

“And what your brethren has been talking about, Mr….?”

“Gabr-el. Just good things, I suppose, about the prince of the plains and, ugh—,” Gabr-el tried to sit down and went back to lay on his side, “the games you played with corvids.”

Jak blushed harder. “Well, Gabr-el, thank you so much for saving me, please enjoy your stay while you recuperate here, I just gotta go cook food, I—” Jak went from his seat and walked away with his mumblings but Gabri-el caught his wrist.

“Will you stay first? I think my ribs will heal faster with your beautiful face waiting for me.”

Jak gaped dumbly and nodded. Taking a fortifying breath, Jak said, “you know, if you think I’m beautiful, do you want to be princes of the plains with me?”

When no answer came, Jak looked through his eyelashes. Gabr-el was petting his wrist while his tail curled comfortingly between their hands.

“Well… what if we become the lords of the steppe?” Asked Gabr-el while tugging Jak’s tail playfully. “Hmm?” Gabri-el turned his attention from the flicking tail to Jak’s blushing face.

Jack smiled.

And from there, it was widely known that the golden capped snow leopard and white masked raven were lords of the steppe, willing to keep the plains just off the bounds of Orkhon Valley safe from poachers and animals that wasn’t meant to be there. 


End file.
